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Thousands of people gather across France on Saturday to demand government action against sexual violence, following the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl that served as a catalyst for mass mobilisation.
The girl, named as Lyhanna, went missing on 29 May in the southwestern town of Fleurance and her body was found in an abandoned silo almost a week later.
Anger grew after it emerged that the main suspect, the 41-year-old father of a school friend, had twice before been formally accused of raping a child but the investigations had been dropped or had stalled.
The tragedy is seen as a failure of a system that could have protected Lyhanna and many other victims but did not.
Feminist and child protection associations want the recognition of the “systemic nature” of sexual violence, and a “comprehensive law” to combat it rather than “piecemeal measures and laws dictated by the urgency of successive cases.”
“We cannot be satisfied with this under-resourced justice system that protects aggressors rather than victims. With 94% of rape complaints being dismissed without further action, there are many aggressors who are reported to the justice system and are not held accountable ,” proclaimed Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of the Women’s Foundation, before the Parisian demonstration, which set off shortly after 3 pm from the Place de la Bastille towards the Place de la Nation.
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron said he feared for trust in France’s institutions. “There have been clear malfunctions. We must now understand what falls under individual responsibilities and what concerns systemic lapses within all the public services involved,” Macron said.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin apologised for what he called a “huge failure” in the Lyhanna case, and has instructed prosecutors to review some 70,000 outstanding child sexual abuse cases by 14 July.
Darmanin announced his plan on 8 June, stating that “not a single senior judge will go on holiday” — and nor would he — until he had met with “each and every one of the chief prosecutors” to take stock of the public situation.
The feasibility of this ambitious plan has been called into question in light of France’s notoriously slow justice system, which has among the fewest professional judges in Europe, according to data from the Council of Europe.
Organisers of Saturday’s protests hope to capitalise on the emotion aroused by the Lyhanna case to obtain the adoption of a “360-degree” text ranging from prevention and judicial treatment to support for victims, especially the most vulnerable, which they have been demanding since the end of 2024.
Demonstrations were announced in some 80 cities, including Agen, Dijon and Toulouse.
Additional sources • AFP